Green living today is no longer just limited to choices in the grocery aisle. The new green lifestyle now extends to our vacation time as eco-conscious travelers seek out green hotels more and more each year. As the owner of a luxury lifestyle PR firm specializing in resorts and boutique hotel public relations, I’ve witnessed the growing trend of people making vacation choices based on hotels that are ecologically sensitive or have “green” practices.
But what exactly does green mean? In travel, it can cover anything from planting trees to increase oxygen in the locales of the hotels to fully sustainable properties.
The green grounds of Leela Palace, India
One of the clients of my travel pr firm the Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has built an entire oasis of greenery by planting thousands of trees along the main boulevards leading from the airports to their properties in overly crowded cities Mumbai and Bangalore. The Leela Hotel’s Chairman was even honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his involvement in developing environmentally sensitive hotels.
LEED certification logo
But in addition to hotels like the Leela that are improving local areas through greening efforts, another handful of hotels (less than 20 on the planet) are LEED-certified meaning the hotels are constructed in accordance with the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) standards for green buildings as developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED-certification focuses construction and material used for the hotel and is the gold standard in eco-construction.
Green hotel Element by Westin in Lexington, MA
America’s first LEED-certified hotel chain is Element by Westin (of the Starwood Hotel & Resorts group), which opened its first property in Lexington, MA and includes hotels in Houston, Dallas, and Las Vegas, as well as in Maryland and Colorado. The success of the new “green” hotel trend is evident in the fact another five new Element hotels are planned to open in the US cities over the next two years, in including one in NYC’s Time Square area.
An existing hotel, The Hilton in Vancouver, Washington was even renovated to receive a prestigious LEED certification. And as the General Manager of the LEED-certified Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco points out: “It’s not mutually exclusive anymore to be green and luxurious.”
In fact, 4-star service, food and a unique experience are not being sacrificed in green travel. In my next blog, I will cover top luxury travel destinations that also incorporate wildlife conservation and protection into their offerings to eco-aware travelers.
Until then…
Much luxe,
Lorraine Abelow
President and Founder, Abelow Public Relations
www.abelowpr.com
Pingback: Green Travel Reaches Luxurious Heights – Part II » Abelow Public Relations